"Poland's military presence in Iraq after June 30 depends on how the political process goes and the attitude of the provisional Iraqi government, which will decide whether it is interested in the presence of Polish armed forces," Szmajdzinski told reporters.

"From our point of view, to guarantee security and the reconstruction of Iraq, the presence of stabilisation forces is useful and it would be unreasonable to waste what we have accomplished," he said.

Poland, which contributed about 200 troops to the US-led coalition in the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein, now heads a 9,000-strong multinational force patrolling a large swathe of the country. It has 2,500 of its own troops in the country.

Outgoing prime minister Leszek Miller, admitted on Wednesday Spain's decision to withdraw its troops from the force had forced Warsaw to consider the future of its own forces in the country.

The announcement had a domino effect, with Honduras and the Dominican Republic then announcing they would follow suit, and withdraw their respective 368 and 302 troops from the Polish-led force.

WAR.WIRE